To take full advantage of the possibilities that come with the space for dialogue created in The Agora Online, it is necessary to bypass filters to avoid bias, lack of seriousness while discussing, and plain bad intentions.
How are discussions regulated?
Discussions, in order to be regulated, can have a maximum of 7 participants (each one can reply to it as many times they wish). After 7 users already started the discussion, 11 other users can vote for the conclusion they think makes more sense.
Users that are active participants in a discussion, can get voted out of it if all of their comments in the discussion get at least 13 negative votes, and will lose their part in the discussion if they become inactive in the discussion for too long, causing it to halt.
Discussions will only be considered closed when 17 voters agree on the same conclusion.
Continuing Discussions
All continuations to each discussion need to be approved before being posted.
In order to be approved, all arguments need a source (Linked, or if it belongs to a book or a scientific paper, they need to specify which exact section is being referenced), and must follow the format specified below.
Each comment needs to be specified as what it is: An Hypothesis, Argument, Counterargument, or Conclusion. These may be used together in a single comment (if connected properly) or separated, but the conclusion must always be posted by itself.
Argument: Punishment based justice system fail to lower recividism rates in comparison to justice systems focused on the reinsertion of the criminals in society instead.
source: http://www.antoniocasella.eu/nume/Deady_march2014.pdf
Example of a propper argument in a discussion
It is only allowed for 7 users to expose arguments per discussion.
A maximum of 11 non-commenting voters are allowed.
The discussion will be considered settled once a conclusion reaches 17 upvotes.
Socrates’ Disciples
In order to counterattack possible unconscious biases that the different parties that take part in the dialogue may have, users with the role of Socrates’ Disciple, will be replying to specific ideas with questions, utilizing the Socratic Method. This will allow implied assumptions to be shown, and to be revised, in order to expose possible underlying contradictions.
Any user can become a Socrates’ Disciple, but once they have this role, they may not partake in the Dialogue itself as a participating user, and can’t support any of the different views.
Their sole duty is to shed light on the implied assumptions and expose them.
Why use this system?
The system we use at The Agora Online is implemented in order to assure that the discussions will only conclude when it is safe to assume that everybody comes to the same conclusion. This forces the platform to a philosophical ultimatum. Either an absolute truth exists, and the way to see it is through proper dialogue, or everything is relative.
